Inflatable Shark Among 300 New Species Discovered in Philippines

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A treasure trove of hundreds of new species may have been
discovered in the Philippines, including a bizarre sea star that
feeds exclusively on sunken driftwood and a deep-sea,
shrimp-eating shark that swells up to scare off other predators.

Scientists braved leeches and a
host of venomous creatures from the mountains to the sea to
uncover more than 300 species that are likely new to science.
These findings include dozens of new insects and spiders, more
than 50 colorful new sea slugs and a number of deep-sea armored
corals "which protect themselves against predatory nibbles from
fish by growing large, spiky plates," said researcher Terrence
Gosliner, dean of science and research collections at the
California Academy of Sciences and leader of the 2011 Philippine
Biodiversity Expedition.

Researchers at the California Academy of Sciences and their
colleagues from the University of the Philippines and the
National Museum of the Philippines conducted a 42-day expedition
this past spring to survey Luzon Island, the largest island in
the Philippine archipelago, as well as its surrounding waters.
[ Image
Gallery: Colorful Creatures of the Philippines ]

Challenging field work

Working in the field is always a challenge, Gosliner noted. "We
had our work both on the coral reefs and rain forest interrupted
by an early typhoon; we were out of the water for two days," he
said.

"One of the biologists working in the mountains was sleeping in a
hammock; during the night, one of the trees his hammock was tied
to was uprooted and he was suddenly on the ground," Gosliner
added. "One researcher knelt on a
venomous lionfish and later found himself on a mountain
kneeling on poisonous plants."

The hard-won result of their efforts was the most comprehensive
scientific survey effort ever conducted in the Philippines.

"I have been working in the Philippines on my own research for 20
years — I thought it would be great to bring a large team of
researchers together to study from mountaintops to the deep sea,
to determine if all of these places harbor new species," Gosliner
said. "I was delighted that my hunch proved to be correct."

Their novel discoveries include a cicada that makes a distinctive
"laughing" call, a crab whose pincers are lined with needlelike
teeth, and a wormlike pipefish that hides among colonies of soft
coral. In addition, they discovered a possible
new species of swell shark — a shark that pumps water into
its stomach to puff up — which unlike its relatives possesses a
very distinctive camouflaged color pattern.

A number of species live in places rarely, if ever, visited by
people, such as a primitive plant called a spikemoss from the
perilously steep upper slopes of Mount Isarog and a snake eel
from the bottom of the ocean. Many others have avoided detection
in the past because of their diminutive size, such as
goblin spiders and barnacles that all measure just a few
millimeters long.

"One of the likely new urchins is very small — it's called a pea
urchin, and yes, it's about the size of a pea," Gosliner said.

Hot hotspots

All these new findings help support the idea that the Philippines
"is one of the hottest of the hotspots for diverse and threatened
life on Earth," Gosliner said. "We found new species during
nearly every dive and hike as we surveyed the country's reefs,
rainforests and the ocean floor." [ 10
Species You Can Kiss Goodbye ]

In fact, the researchers suggest the waters of the Philippines
may house more species than any other marine environment on
Earth. The deep-water channel they sampled is nutrient-rich,
allowing life to flourish, and has existed for about 60 million
years, giving species a great deal of time to evolve. "All of
those factors together have led to the high diversity," Gosliner
told LiveScience.

The researchers are sharing their results with Filipino agencies
and international groups to develop strategies to best protect
the island nation's extraordinarily rich life. This includes
outlining the most important places for establishing or expanding
marine protected areas, suggested locations for reforestation and
reduction of plastic waste.

"We are hoping the findings will result in recommendations that
will translate into policies that will produce a more sustainable
future for Filipinos while simultaneously protecting the unique
biodiversity," Gosliner said.

"This expedition has led us to want to undertake more expeditions
to the Philippines in other unexplored areas," he added.

The scientists will present their preliminary results on June 30,
during the California Academy of Sciences' weekly NightLife
event.